Gothikana

Corvina avoids Deverell over the following weeks, but he goes out of his way to encounter her. Jade begins a romantic relationship with Troy, leading Corvina’s friend group to expand. Jax is passively interested in Corvina, but keeps his attentions subtle. On her birthday, Corvina takes a letter to the university’s post, only to learn that she has missed the biweekly pickup. Deverell overhears her lamenting the delay and offers to take her into town to the larger post office. Corvina is apprehensive.

Corvina finds it “freeing” to be off campus for the first time in months. Deverell invites her to use his given name, Vad, when they are alone; he explains that it means “untamed.” She accuses him of giving “mixed signals,” which makes Vad laugh. She confides that her mother lives in a psychiatric institution, where she has been for nearly four years. Vad, who is 28, explains that he grew up in a group home. He was adopted as a teenager by an elderly man; when his adoptive father died, Vad came to Verenmore. Corvina suspects he is still “hiding something.”

Vad drops Corvina off at the post office. The postal worker, Mrs. Remi, is related to the Verenmore librarian and recognizes Corvina’s name.